Playing the Hero

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'Well...here goes nothing' was the Buizel's sole thought as he crept slowly and silently through the trees of the Pecha Forest. Ever since his visit to the Grassveil Guild, he had heard rumors that this was where many rookie and newcomers to the Guild trained themselves to be better prepared for their first real journey or mission. Jet had hoped that, just maybe, he could be more beneficial to his teammates if he could just get a little bit stronger. He was currently not very proud of his strength level, nor his courage. Plus, if he was lucky, he could potentially collect items for later use on his team's missions.

Thankfully for him, this place should be mildly tame compared to the other dungeons in the area, but he still could not help but feel somewhat nervous. After all, this was his very first outing since arriving in Grassveil Town. He had lived in a dungeon once upon time with his family, and that was far from the most pleasant experience in his life. So he supposed that it was only natural for him to be like this...and that was what gave him the comfort he needed to keep going.

Besides, he had survived worse in the past. What could happen here, right?

Jet made his way amongst the trees of the forest, although he was constantly looking over his shoulder for any sign of a Pokémon that might cause him harm. Some might call him paranoid...but he called it being cautious. A paranoid Pokémon was probably less likely to be ambushed than a Pokémon who simply marched ahead with a false sense of security in their confidence. He was different than that. He knew his limits and knew them well. He needed to be cautious, lest he risk falling into a very difficult situation.

Jet had been assured that this place was nothing to worry about...but he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen here. But what it was, be it good or bad, he had no idea. And so, he carefully padded onward, constantly on alert for any signs of other Pokémon or items.

{Remaining Energy: 16}

"Must be. hey I have an idea!" Lucerne exclaimed.

Smiling she spun around, the rings spinning with her. then she started dancing. She swung in between the rings, grazing them with her paws. after a few twirls she leaned back, letting the rings kick up some water from the puddles. small amounts of water were pulled in by the mysterious force that held the rings together. Lucerne continued this for a few more twirls, then finished her impromptu Water ballet.

"This is great! I didn't know I could do anything like this!" Lucerne said, laughing. "le-"

Lucerne stopped herself. She had almost held a paw out to jet. almost given an invitation to dance! what was she thinking? Getting so caught up in the moment. She wanted to dance with him, but something stopped her. It was more than just her not wanting to give away her heart so easily.

Jet seemed off. When he ran from those pokemon with her, he didn't seem sure. Lucerne had always pictured a knight in shining armor when she thought of explorers. someone brave and valiant, like her savior. Like she wanted to be. Jet... wasn't that. She let the aqua ring stop.

"It's dangerous out here isn't it?" Lucerne said, more to herself than to jet, but she wanted to hear someone confirm her thoughts.

"An idea...?" Jet repeated, looking at Lucerne curiously. He got his answer quickly, however, when she began to actually spin around. The rings spun around her, and his eyes widened slightly at the sight. She was definitely onto something with this. She was dancing, and the rings were really doing a lot to help the visuals.

Jet watched as the female Buizel in front of him continued to spin and dance, sometimes tapping against the rings with her paws. He watched her graceful movements, looking the Buizel's body up and down. There was something about the way that the water glowed...it shone on her body and illuminated it. Something about the glow really brought something out of her, though. And it quickly dawned on him just what it really was. She...she was so beautiful.... And the moment this realization dawned on him, he felt his face turn slightly hot, a blush starting to form. Oh, how he longed to take her paw and get into the middle of those rings with her and join her. Sure, he wasn't much of a dancer, but he was sure that he could figure it out by having her take the lead.

Jet watched as Lucerne stopped, though. That took him by surprise and his blush started to fade slightly. She had seemed so excited and happy a moment ago. Suddenly, she let her mood shift as soon as her attention had been brought back to him. Suddenly...it was as though she had been forced to return to reality.

"Y...yeah," he murmured in a dejected tone. He was rather disappointed that her dancing had ended rather prematurely. Of course, he didn't want to explicitly say anything about it either. He looked up at the sky, noticing that the rain had started letting up slightly. "...Um...w-well, it looks like the rain is slowing. M-maybe we should get going again. W-we're not going to find anything just standing around, are we...?"

"what happens if we run into more pokemon? I don't want to run Jet." Lucerne said, looking down "What fun is exploring if all you do is run?"

Lucerne looked up, smiling. She knew things were dangerous. She also knew that she was having fun, when she danced, when she talked with jet, even when they were in that fight. But... They lost. they ran. they weren't heros. Jet wasn't a hero.

"I mean I want to run. I'm scared, as exciting as this all is. I want to avoid it at the same time. To be honest I wanted to be saved. I wanted a knight in shining armor to save me, the same way they did... But that didn't happen. I thought that wild pokemon wouldn't be a problem, but they were. I thought this would be fun, but It hasn't been." Lucerne said, venting her frustrations.

It could be fun though. Things just needed to change. Lucerne needed to fight, and she needed someone else to fight for her. So maybe for today, they should just quit. Lucerne could come back after she learned or relearned a few moves, and jet... Lucerne wasn't sure about Jet. He confused her.

Jet couldn't help but frown slightly when Lucerne looked down and began to say exactly what he was afraid she would say. She did have a good point of course. If they ran into another group of Pokémon like that, they might have no choice but to run away yet again. Jet couldn't keep pretending that he could fight well forever. He couldn't act tough if his own life depended on it...let alone somebody else's. And the worst part of this whole thing came when Lucerne hammered in one fact all too clearly. His head lowered slightly as he heard Lucerne vent. Apparently, she had wanted somebody strong who could protect her properly. And of course, he wasn't even close to what she had been looking for. She was looking for somebody who could actually fight.

And he could never fill those shoes. He didn't need to be told twice about his weakness.

"Y...yeah. Yeah, I know. And...and I'm sorry. I'm not as strong as I led you to believe I was." Jet confessed at last. Although he supposed at this point, the confession was hardly necessary. He rubbed his arm guiltily, avoiding the female Buizel's gaze as best he could. "S-still...I would like this to have not been a...complete waste of our time. I would like to go home with...w-well...something anyway. I-if you still want to go home, th-then I understand, but...if we do run into more Pokémon, I...I promise I won't run away again. I...I'll do my best and fight as well as I can."

He just hoped that he wouldn't be biting off more than he could chew.

"You didn't lead me to believe you were strong, I did that all myself" Lucerne said, rubbing her arm. "But It isn't like it's gonna be like this forever! today we may have played at being heroes, but we have to start somewhere. I'm gonna learn how to fight, and maybe take dance lessons, oh also I want to get something from the boutique. After that though, I'm gonna come back here. it's the same thing for you really, just get stronger, I mean I know they have to have that dojo for some reason."

Lucerne smiled at jet. She thought she figured out what was off about him. It was he was playing a part, not being himself. After hearing him say how weak he was, lucerne understood a bit more. He didn't seem to believe in himself, but all he needed was training, if the stories her savior told her were anything to go by.

"I think I will head home, we should meet again once we become better explorers." Lucerne said.

Lucerne got up as the rain started to slow down. She needed some space, being an explorer wasn't like she had imagined, and she wanted to distance herself from the day's incidents. It was too bad she didn't find any pecha berries, but she did meet an interesting guy. and maybe with time, she could see him as who he was and not as who she wished he would be.

Jet heard what Lucerne had to say and he knew that in the end, she was mostly trying to make him feel better about his failure here. However, what she didn't realize was that at this point, he had been an explorer for quite a while now. He had been in training for a while, working with his team leader and his new friend to try to increase his battle abilities. But in all of that time, he was apparently only good enough to "play at" being a hero. In truth, her choice of words only served to deepen his sense of self-loathing, albeit rather unintentionally. Still, the fact that the only words of advice she had for him were to "get stronger," struck him. He had been trying to do just that ever since he left for Grassveil in the first place. And now, it seemed like he had barely made any progress in all this time.

Well...hopefully Lucerne wouldn't pass him by in terms of battle capabilities. Then that would just serve to make things even worse than they already were.

Still, he didn't want to say all of this aloud, nor show it to her at all. After all, he didn't want to make her feel bad or guilty about her attempted pep talk. It certainly wasn't her fault that he was taking it this way. So, he decided on settling for a small smile, a nod and adding, "Y...yeah. Yeah, okay," to the end of it. However, when he looked up to see Lucerne off, his eyes widened slightly when a flash of yellow caught his attention.

"L-Lucerne, watch out!" he suddenly called out, springing into action. He lunged forward, roughly shoving his paws into the female Buizel's back and pushing her forward and out of the way as small, golden spores fell down from above them. Unfortunately, Jet had no way to avoid the spores himself and, in the next moment, felt his body lock up on him as a strange Paralysis took hold. He rolled over onto his back and looked up into the trees, just in time to see what looked like a Weepinbell leap away from its perch and begin Vine Whipping its way through the trees, clearly not wanting to deal with two Pokémon at the same time by itself.

That Stun Spore had really taken him by surprise...but thankfully he wouldn't have to fight a Grass-type like that....

Lucerne suddenly realized something when Jet took that attack for her. She was wrong. Jet did everything he could to protect her, even running away he must have been thinking about her, and he used his own body to shield her from an explosion.

With this revelation she got up and walked over to jet, who seemed to be paralyzed, and helped him sit on a rock. She sat across from him. It was time for one last pep talk for the guy.

"I'm sorry jet. I was wrong. You just saved me. again. Maybe not like an knight in shining armor way, but still in a heroic way. I'm not sure I could put myself between someone else and an explosion, or whatever this stuff is." Lucerne said, looking at the yellow powder. "Playing the hero, that isn't exactly right. I mean you can't be something unless you try to be. I mean I'm trying to be an explorer, Havn't got a clue, but I do have a badge, so I am one I guess."

Lucerne hoped what she said was good enough for jet. She wasn't smart, but she could talk from the heart. She had to reconsider what a hero meant to her, after all, the most heroic thing to happen to her was being saved from a falling branch, after it had hit her on the head.

Jet grunted when he felt his body lock up and the Paralysis set in. It was rather unfortunate to say the least, but at least he had managed to protect Lucerne from something else while they had been here together. He looked up, though, and saw Lucerne's face block the canopy above him from view. She then subsequently held out her paws and helped him get off of the ground so that he could sit properly up on a rock. He tried to shake off the powder and try to work off the paralysis, but to no avail. He was probably going to be in trouble for a short while....

The male Buizel shook his head when Lucerne began to apologize. "N-no, th-there's no need to be sorry," he replied to her. Despite his words, though, a small blush and a smile appeared on his face. he definitely felt a little bit better after that. She did have a point, after all. Not many Pokémon would have put themselves at risk like that...or at least, so he thought. "B-but...thank you, Lucerne." he added at last. He then looked at the powder again, chuckling slightly. "A-as for this, it's nothing but Stun Spore, something that many Grass-type Pokémon can use. Direct contact will cause your body to become paralyzed, so you want to avoid it at all costs under normal circumstances." He paused there, suddenly realizing how dangerous he might have been making that sound. "Er...th-though Paralysis on its own is really no big deal. A-all it does is cut down your movement speed and occasionally locks up your muscles and stops you from making a move, but even that is only momentary."

He then nodded. "A-anyway...I-I think that if you want to leave, you should go ahead. I-I should probably wait here for now until I can get used to this paralysis." With that, he stood back up again and started to slowly make his way toward the cave. "I-I don't want to keep you here that long if you would rather head back. Y-you won't have to worry about me. I-I'll be fine. I'll leave as soon as I'm ready. All I have to do is lay low here for a while until it wears off." He then showed her a reassuring smile. "I promise, I'll be fine."

Lucerne was skeptical, after all Jet tried hard to be a hero, maybe too hard. In the end Lucerne decided to trust him. Picking up her back and re-adjusting her bo- oh. Lucerne had to get a new one. Shame really.

"Alright, I trust you" Lucerne said, looking to jet. "I hope I'll see you again once we both are doing better."

Lucerne turned to hide her blush, and then without another word, started walking away. The clouds parted finally. the rain had stopped. as lucerne stepped out of the dungeon, she stood between the clouds and the open sky, leaving behind the rain and walking into the sunshine.